I stumbled upon this today and I felt a shiver down my spine... It inmediatly reminded me of TBW past puzzles. Any comments @Anashel? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_3301 https://www.youtube.com/watch?annot...&feature=iv&src_vid=NHANsoZsTS4&v=e1iee7TLUJ8 http://uncovering-cicada.wikia.com/wiki/Uncovering_Cicada_Wiki Do you guys know anything about it?
Yeah. It's real and it's hard. I didn't get too far. Heard strange rumors about some that did complete it, but never heard of what happened - something with a think tank to tackle high-end issues.
That is seriously cool!! But Google did that a good 10 years ago with puzzle to recruit engineer and mathematician.
Ummm, I thought Anashel's true intent has always been to start a secret organization. Notice that in previous versions of agent recruitment there are no provisions that protect us if governments catch us while performing suspicious acts or espionage. We're on our own, totally disavowed. But, it is comforting that the Barbizon/Msika investigation shows that the Agency will go to some lengths to repatriate Agents.
I would love to get a notpr0n group going in here XD I got further than average I think but then the puzzles got beyond the technical skills I had. (i.e. no photoshop)
It all started on 4chan, Google has many many channels, why use 4chan to get things rolling? There is no actual proof that it's from Google other than the speculations of a Redditor. The thing is that people who did finish never went out to say that it's from Google, instead they went dark. Why would somebody go dark if he got a job at google? Therefor the speculations that it is a government agency or a hackerscollective seem more realistic no? And if you wonder how to solve older parts? http://www.clevcode.org/cicada-3301/
What if it was a secret government division within the NSA or some other government agency, trying to flush out potential hackers/threats? Those who passed through a number of pre-determined hoops would be put on a watch-list that they would keep. If the hacker was fed with information that a fictitious or possibly real group, ie. Anonymous and would continue with the challenges with implicit agreement to the principles that Cicada would adhere to, they could loosely have enough reason albeit not proper justification to keep tabs on that hacker under the Patriot Act as a "potential" contact that a cyber terrorist organization could get in touch with.
Yes, but not beyond the budget and imagination of a machiavellian government agency. But even then, I think we're back to recruitment. The best assets are those who are extraordinarily good AND working for you (whether they want to or not).
Oh that reminds me of wasted days at the computer... I think I still have a paper somewhere with all the URLs and passwords to the mid 30s. Yes, we used to use pen and paper in those times Always thought I would once finish this riddle...
